my attempt at blogging

Amidst the incessant rains, floods and the hype about the movie, I went to watch it though it was drizzling in my hometown. Considering the movie was released recently and it being a Friday evening, I anticipated some crowd at the box office. So we reached 20mins before show time. Though the movie sported names of veteran actor Kamal Hassan, and Venkatesh – the all time hit-getter in Andhra, there were not more than a bunch of people buying tickets. By the time the show began, there were less than thirty fellows who shared the theatre hall with us.

Considering the fact that the movie was a remake of ‘A Wednesday’ starring Naseer-Uddin-Shah, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Sheirgill among others, one would anticipate that Eenadu not only matched the finesse of ‘A Wednesday’ but surpassed it in areas where the latter fell short of. But alas, I would not have to think twice to mention that ‘Eenadu’ was a damp squib in all departments of film making.

Story: The plot was more or less the same as that in A Wednesday, but for a few changes that make it native to Hyderabad (Mumbai for ‘A Wednesday’). The story opens with the introduction of a ‘Common Man’ who drops in at the police station to report his missing purse. The story also ends with the police commissioner meeting this common man in person and letting him go after what he has done.

But what disappointed me was the fact that though Kamal and Venkatesh are capable of cutting edge performances, this movie harnessed less than 50% of the grace they could lend to their respective characters.

What was more disappointing?

Background score:

Shruthi Hassan, who has been hyped lately as one starlet who is multi talented (movie direction, writing, acting, modeling and now music making) could not render much character to Eenadu. This was one area where I thought ‘A Wednesday’ could take improvement. But compared to what was on Eenadu, music on ‘A Wednesday’ was far better.

At places, the music felt very immature and inappropriate. For example, near the climax when the commissioner goes out of his office to meet the so called Common Man, the music attempts to glorify the authority of the character and the triumph it just achieved. But it fails miserably.

Though it is only a 1.5hr movie, I see that there was a lot of time wasted.

For example, the arguments with the Chief Secretary about red tape and –who’s-to-take-the-blame if the situation goes out of hand — discussion.

Bringing in irrelevant and unnecessary aspects:

I felt that showing people in the government as cowards and that a police commissioner is no more than a glorified watchman was completely unnecessary. This aspect of either character did neither add value not take away any merit from the situation central to the story line.

Arif the tough police man:

‘A Wednesday’ depicts Arif as a maverick policeman who cares less for anything else other than his ways of getting things done. The first scene where Arif (Jimmy Sheirgill) is introduced in ‘A Wednesday’ was enough to clearly depict what this fellow was. On the other hand, Arif (Venkatram) in Eenadu was far from convincing. The guy appeared mad.

Misses and gaps in the story-telling:

Arif chases the fellow who supplies RDX and reaches the address of the buyer only to find that there was none there. We had no idea that the commissioner was fallowing this operation, but Arif calls him up and says ‘There’s none here’. Where?

The TV crew has no role to play:

‘A Wednesday’ shows the news reporter as a potential accessory for the perpetrator to follow how his scheme was materializing. So was she shown in Eenadu. What was so unlikely for a TV9 reporter here was the confidence this lady exhibits. Diction especially was poor by any standards.

To sum it up, as a movie goer, I was completely disappointed with Eenadu in all aspects. Kamal Hassan is a fine actor, and so is Naseer. The grace Naseer lends to the character in ‘A Wednesday’ is no where to be seen from Kamal in Eenadu. Anupam Kher did his homework well; he was the closest fit for the role of a commissioner, graceful and authoritative. Venkatesh’s role was rather dramatic and lacked the vigor and command that a Police Commissioner exhibits; or perhaps this was not his cup of tea. If I were to choose, I would put Prakash Raj for the role.

We can give it to Shruthi Hassan because this was her debut as a music director. But in the department that most important for a movie of this kind, Screenplay and Direction, Chakri Toleti has a long way to go. For Eenadu, every thing in this department looked half baked.

Dubbing was patchy; lip sync takes a miss at several places.

Eenadu will disappoint if you have admired ‘A Wednesday’. Eenadu will still disappoint you even if you have not seen ‘A Wednesday’.